The entry list for the 2016 British GT Championship has been unveiled with 33 cars taking on the nine-round season, including a number of surprise entries.
Like last year, the grid is almost perfectly split between GT3 and GT4 entries – but this year the pendulum has swung towards the GT4 class with 18 cars making up the field.
One of the more surprising entries in the GT4 class comes from Black Bull Ecurie Ecosse which will run the development season for the just-launched McLaren 570S GT4. The driver pairing hasn’t been announced for that entry yet, but Rob Bell handled driving duties for the media day test.
McLaren’s new GT4 challenger (Credit: Nick Smith/TheImageTeam.com)
There are a number of other surprising entries into the GT4 class with GPRM and Beechdean-AMR both announcing two-car entries in the class, with Toyota GT86s and Aston Martin Vantages respectively.
For GPRM, their drivers are still full of TBAs with the exception of Stefan Hodgetts who will continue to race the car he has become very familiar with over the last few seasons.
In the Beechdean team, the previously announced pairing of Jordan Albert and Jack Bartholomew will be joined in a sister Vantage by reigning GT4 champion Jamie Chadwick and Great British Bake Off star – as well as increasingly rapid racing driver – Paul Hollywood. That car will be a Pro/Am entry.
Elsewhere in GT4, news of note is the lack of last year’s GT4 runners up ISSY Racing whose Lotus Evora provided good competition for Beechdean last year will not be out this year. Also absent this year are the two Academy Motorsport Aston Martin Vantages, but in their place are two Generation AMR entries – one for Macmillan Racing with Jack Mitchell and Matty Graham behind the wheel, and another for SuperRacing with James Holder and Matthew George competing in that.
Other entries include the JWB Motorsport Aston for Kieran Griffin and Jake Giddings, as well as a Ginetta G55 GT4 for PMW Expo/Optimum Motorsport with Mike Robinson and Graham Johnson once again competing together in that entry.
The two Team HARD cars, Ginetta G55 GT4s in a very eye-catching pink and green livery, have been entered under the RCIB Insurance Racing banner with Robert Barrable and Wilson Thompson in one, with Jordan Stilp and William Phillips in the other.
RCIB Insurance Racing’s Ginetta G55 (Credit: Nick Smith/TheImageTeam.com)
Moving into the premier GT3 class, there are no notable surprises compared to last year, except for the absence of both the Mercedes SLS AMG GT3 cars – those of Preci-Spark and Ram Racing. Also absent is Ferrari with both FF Corse and Rosso Verde not lodging a full-season entry.
One additional entry, compared to those that have been announced over the last months, is a second BMW Z4 GT3 for AmDTuning.com but drivers are yet to be announced for that.
The other 14 cars feature some of the best talent in GT racing with reigning GT3 champions Beechdean leading the entry list in their Aston Martin for Andrew Howard and Ross Gunn which will no doubt have one objective – retain their title.
Indeed, Beechdean are one of five Aston Martin Vantage GT3s on the entry for British GT. One car apiece have been entered for PFL Motorsport and Motorbase Performance as well as a pair for TF Sport.
Elsewhere, there are two Lamborghini Huracan GT3s for Barwell Motorsport, two Ginetta G55 GT3s for Tolman Motorsport and an Audi R8 LMS for Optimum Motorsport alongside the Team Parker Racing Bentley.
Team Parker Racing Bentley Continental (Credit: Nick Smith/TheImageTeam.com)
In terms of drivers there are a number of British GT champions, read Jonny Adam and Jon Barnes, mixing it with rapid gentleman drivers such as Jon Minshaw, Lee Mowle and Liam Griffin and up-and-coming stars of GT like Seb Morris, Joe Osborne and Jody Fannin. All of whom will no doubt be up for a great fight in 2016
The first round of the British GT Championship kicks off at Brands Hatch on April 16/17.
2016 British GT Championship entry list
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